Parent: Flyers' new-found optimism to face stiff road test

SUNRISE, Fla. — So are the real Flyers finally standing up, or is this just a mirage?

The recent run of six regulation wins and a shootout loss in the last seven games, is it a trend or temporary upward bend? It’s not an easily answered question, but either way, it’s probably a good idea to keep a lid on the optimism.

“We’re playing better,” Claude Giroux said after a 5-2 victory over the Islanders Saturday night, completing a perfect, three-game homestand. “I still think we have things to work on, but it’s looking better. Everybody’s contributing and it’s a lot more fun.”

The Flyers have won three games in a row, and their 6-0-1 run has elevated them to 10-10-2, the first time they’ve hit .500 on the season. Through Saturday, the Flyers were only two points out of a playoff spot in the East and with a game in hand over the No. 8 seed Rangers. They’re also in a conference in which five teams, including the Flyers, were within three points of each other.

All of which is indicative of only the obvious ...

“We’ve still got a long ways to go,” Brayden Schenn said. “We can’t be happy with .500. That’s probably not going to get you to the playoffs. We’ve got a ways to go, but it’s good that we dug ourselves out of the hole from the start of the year and we’ll keep building off of that.”

For the good times to keep on rolling, however, the Flyers are going to have to get used to winning on the road. That’s where this current streak of fortune gained legs, with consecutive victories nearly two weeks ago in Ottawa and Pittsburgh. It’s where they have to continue to play within their system and themselves, as road games here in South Florida against the Panthers Monday and Lightning Wednesday loom.

There may be optimism oozing from every poured player quote, but reality may be lying in wait right around another NHL corner. That’s an extended series of games away from home that should go a long way toward deciding just what this down and up Flyers team is actually about.

“It’s huge,” Wayne Simmonds said when asked about the coming string of road games. “Obviously, we followed up a good road trip with a great homestand here, and I think that is really important. We hadn’t been playing too well at home as of late, and I think these three games really gave us confidence, especially going on the road.”

It should be quite a holiday season stretch.

The Flyers return from Florida for a Black Friday morning game against the Winnipeg Jets, then hit the road for six games that will take them south to Nashville, northward to Minnesota and Detroit, a shot south to Dallas, then a three-point turn to head to Ottawa before finally ending the trip in Chicago Dec. 11. Oh, then they’ll have a chance to rest while playing the Montreal Canadiens at home the very next day.

Eight of their next nine and 16 of their next 21 are on the road as the Olympics-stained schedule gets more demanding as the winter grows long.

That’s a big reason why this little turnaround run they’re on now should be digested along with a strong dose of reality. But if you ask Giroux, there’s a fine line between winning and losing any games from October to April.

“It’s hard to say that when our record was 1-7, we were playing good, but I still think we were playing good,” Giroux said. “We’d had our chances, we outworked teams, we just couldn’t put pucks in the net. But now, obviously we have (Steve) Mason and (Ray) Emery shutting teams down and the pucks are going in. So we’re obviously playing better, but I don’t think we were playing that bad at the start of the year.

“It’s a lot easier than when you are losing, for sure, but we just have to stay with the system,” Giroux added. “We can’t be looking at the big picture; the standings, all that kind of stuff. We have to focus on our game; game-by-game, and on who we are playing that night. Right now, we just have to be ready for the next game.”